Todd Klassy wrote:
The reasons this is being announced now is because:

(1) Magic Lantern announced a new firmware update for the 7D that included clean HDMI output, among other detailed features that make movie making much easier.

(2) Less than a week later (emphasis on only a "week") they announced the same update to their Alpha 2 software for the 5D Mark III.

(3) Magic Lantern's firmware update is an open source product that is designed primarily for video users. However, recently there have been some who have opined on this an other bulletin boards that it may not be difficult for Magic Lantern's programmers to fix the two problems offending many 5D Mark III users--a maximum aperture of f/5.6 and easy-to-see AF point.

(4) As for the 6-month delay, it is pure arrogance and Canon's hope that they will give 1D X customers more reasons to believe in a $3000 premium for purchasing that camera over the 5D Mark III. If they wanted to provide the same fixes it made to the 1D X they could do it now if they wanted. If Magic Lantern can offer a similar firmware update for a product that is much more different (i.e. 7D to 5D Mark III) than the differences between the 5D Mark III and 1D X, Canon can certainly do it sooner than six months.

Frankly, Canon's customers are moving faster than they are....Show more →

Wow. Bitter much? If you can do it some much better, why don't you go work for Canon and fix the problem.

Todd Klassy wrote:
Canon can kiss my you-know-what. "Sorry suckers, you'll have to wait six more months for an update that should have been included in its original offering. Oh, and that AF point illumination issue that we didn't warn early adopters about? Forget it about it. You don't really need it. We know cameras better than you." I swear, their executives are idiots wrapped in a moron and sprinkled with stupid.

Bye-bye. Don't let the screen door hit you on your "you-know-what" on the way out.

Anyone dealing with software changes for the public (not just for yourself) will know that these things take time to test everything properly...especially for the flak they will get for screwing it up. Software porting from one platform (1DX) to another (5D3) is not that simple based on my experience with avionics software changes that I deal with in my day job.

I'm not surprised about the lead time. Why announcing it so early? I guess because of the competition...Nikon, even the D600 which is much cheaper has uncompressed HDMI and f/8 focusing...I'm committed to Canon but I can understand that some people are already jumping ship.

fraga wrote:
The big problem with sony is the lack of a more diverse range of lenses.
IMHO they will never be a real threat to canon and nikon until they increase their lens lineup considerably.
And that takes time.
A lot of time.

I may use the uncompressed video out a little, but am especially looking forward to the F8 focusing. I have the 1.4X III and both the 400 F5.6 and 100-400 lenses to try it with. On a sunny day, when out on my kayak, it will add that much more reach, with little additional weight, compared to a 500 or 600mm lens (even if I could afford one). I think Canon is to be commended for adding these features, per our requests.

It will be interesting to see how the IQ and functionality of the 5D III with 1.4 III and 400 5.6 will at F8 compare to the 7D and 400 5.6, especially for BIF (food for another topic).

+1 - as a software engineer, I can definitely assure you that it's absolutely **NOT** "a few lines of code". Embedded software is a very complicated beast, where the slightest problems can really mess things up. It takes time for development, testing, more testing, etc.

Speaking of that quote, a few years ago, a couple of prior co-workers were guilty of saying the exact same thing about an issue we had with one instrument we worked with. Then we discovered that "a few lines of code" actually meant "several thousand lines of low level assembly code that performs floating point calculations that would take 2 years to re-validate and test because this is a safety-critical component".

Considering they already have it coded for the 1DX, come on man. If it takes six months to copy that code over they'd still be programming the very first DSLR and have it ready for release in another decade perhaps.

erikburd wrote:
+1 - as a software engineer, I can definitely assure you that it's absolutely **NOT** "a few lines of code". Embedded software is a very complicated beast, where the slightest problems can really mess things up. It takes time for development, testing, more testing, etc.

Speaking of that quote, a few years ago, a couple of prior co-workers were guilty of saying the exact same thing about an issue we had with one instrument we worked with. Then we discovered that "a few lines of code" actually meant "several thousand lines of low level assembly code that performs floating point calculations that would take 2 years to re-validate and test because this is a safety-critical component".

Yeah, but come on, they have it already done for the 1DX. Look at how much code there is in the 5D3 or whatnot, look at how fast they fixed the 5D2 black sensor dots, etc. If it takes six months to copy over the 1DX f/8 to the 5D3 there is no remote way they could have yet had time to have even finished the very first firmware for the D30 yet.
And look at ML, that was basically one guy without any documentation or resources.

Not that I want to look a gift horse in the mouth though, since it's a pretty good thing indeed.